Samsung has confirmed it will unveil a Smartwatch called Galaxy Gear in Berlin next week.

The watch, to be launched on September 4th, will link to a mobile phone - but will not have a flexible display.

Experts say Apple’s much rumoured iWatch will not launch until next year, giving Samsung a big advantage.

‘We will be introducing a new wearable concept device called Galaxy Gear at our own event in Berlin on Sept. 4,’ Lee Young-hee, executive vice president of Samsung’s mobile business, told The Korea Times.

The official Galaxy Gear looks similar to this 2009 concept of a Samsung smart watch, designed by Joseph Loetiko. The firm's mobile bosses confirmed in March it was working on a watch and the company's executive vice president confirmed the Galaxy Gear name in August

However, he admitted the first version won't have, as predicted by many experts, a flexible display.

‘The Gear won’t have a flexible display.

‘The new device will enhance and enrich the current smart mobile experience in many ways.

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However, Mr Young-hee also hinted that more wearable gadgets were in the pipeline.

‘We have intellectual properties for patents related to the next wearable devices. Those are concepts for future products.’

The gadget will also compete against Google's Glass wearable computer, which is expected to go on sale to the public next year.

Apple is believed to have 100 people working on its iWatch, according to recent rumours, but is hiring new members because the existing team have been unable to solve issues with the design and engineering. Here is MacUser magazine's mock-up of what the iWatch could look like

Earlier this month a patent filing for the Samsung gadget was uncovered.

According to the filing Samsung's Galaxy Gear range will be 'wearable digital electronic devices in the form of a wristwatch, wrist band or bangle capable of providing access to the Internet and for sending and receiving phone calls.'

It continued that the wristband will also be used for 'storage and/or transmission of data and messages and for keeping track of or managing personal information; smart phones; tablet computers; portable computers.'

Samsung is also expected to launch a new version of its Note ‘phablet’- a combined phone and tablet - at the event.

Last month, the electronics giant revealed it is also developing systems for stick on patches to monitor health.

‘Eventually you won’t even know you’re wearing the device, it could be the fabric in your clothing, your glasses or your watch,’ Samsung’s Chief Strategy Officer, Young Sohn, told the Mobilebeat conference in San Francisco.

‘In three or four years, the number of people wearing computers will increase dramatically,’ Mr Sogn said.

He believes that by 2020 the technology will be widely available.

Samsung announced earlier this year it was 'investing heavily' in wearable computers and revealed it is even developing systems for stick on patches to monitor health. Another of Samsung's watch concepts, pictured, shows a solid wooden band, and the watch face can be simply slipped out and put in a pocket when running

Developers say the technology is beginning to become acceptable.

‘I think we're starting to see devices that people actually want to wear, and we’ve seen a dramatic shift in how much sensors costs,’ said Jef Holove of Basis Point, a firm developing a computer watch.

Samsung confirmed it was developing a watch to take on Apple's rumoured iWatch in March.

The Korean giant let its plans slip
during an interview - setting the scene for the arch-rivals to do battle
in yet another market.

Experts
believe both technology giant's watches will link to mobile phones and
offer largely similar functions, such as the ability to show emails and
download mini apps.

'We’ve been preparing the watch
product for so long,' Lee Young Hee, executive vice president of
Samsung’s mobile business, told Bloomberg during an interview in Seoul.

'We are working very hard to get ready for it.

'We are preparing products for the future, and the watch is definitely one of them.

'The issue here is who will first commercialise it so consumers can use it meaningfully,'

The Samsung device will perform many of the tasks of a smartphone, a source told Reuters earlier this year, without giving further details.

The source declined to be identified because Samsung did not want to reveal to the public any information about its new product line at this time.

Samsung's watch concept can even be taken out of its strap to answer a call

However, an earlier concept developed by by designer
Joseph Loetiko shows a watch than can be removed from its wristband when
running or to answer a call, for example.

Shares
in both Samsung and Apple have taken a hit as the world's top two
mobile device manufacturers keep underwhelming consumers with their
latest smartphone models.

Samsung
shares dropped nearly 5 percent, or around $10 billion, in just two
trading sessions after it launched its Galaxy S smartphone in March, partly hit by concerns that its flagship product lacks the
'wow factor' and may not live up to expectations.

The Galaxy S4, unwrapped to much fanfare in New York to challenge Apple's iPhone on its home turf, offered some incremental evolutionary improvements, but media reports have since suggested these features may not be sufficient to excite buyers in an industry that lives and dies by innovation.

The global watch industry is expected to generate
more than $60 billion in sales this year, and rather like the mobile phone market, firms are expected to try and 'lock' consumers into their own ecosystem of apps and other downloads.

Samsung became the world’s largest smartphone maker last year, overtaking Apple. Samsung had 29 percent of global smartphone unit shipments in the fourth quarter, compared with 21 percent for Apple.

Experts believe the new watches could kickstart the mobile phone market, in the same way that the tablet market exploded when Apple introduced the iPad.